New to Video converting (ffmpegx) and having RM problems

[fostersdf]

Hey there-

I've followed the instructions to install FFMPEGX for my Mac, so that I could convert some RM files (Old anime episodes) into a quicktime friendly format, thus Imovie, etc...

the only problem is, I keep being told I need ot set a video width to divisible by 16. That much I can do, and it works..

the resulting picture is something like this, all pixelated and not clear AT all..

my sound appears to be just fine...

here's a pic..



picture%201.png

[Case]

the resulting picture is something like this, all pixelated and not clear AT all.

Your screenshot is 912 x 680 pixels of video, a weird size for most uses. It appears you did a significant enlargement while converting (as old anime is often of about VCD size (320x240 or close to that). Anything larger than 720 x 540 would be a waste of CPU cycles, imho, as iMovie will convert to Standard Definition DV (720 x 480) on import.

Perhaps you didn't tell ffmpegX to increase the bitrate, using the [Best] button, to allow the enlarged video to use more bytes to describe the video at that size? A bitrate that is way-too-low could cause all kinds of weird artifacts in the video.

[fostersdf]

hmm- I'll recheck the video size and go down to 320 x 240

hopefully it works- it's frustrating to see the stuff I have and not be able to put it into imovie and then DVD!

[tomlee59]

Be sure to do as Case suggests re: bitrate. Click on "best" to let ffmpegx figure out an appropriate value for you. If you *still* have problems after that, then there are other errors to be sorted out.

[Case]

Use RealPlayer (Cmd-I) to verify the source file specs, mainly the framerate, as that one is sometimes misread by ffmpegX.
Clip Info General should give you Original Size: W x H pixels, Duration.
Clip Info Streams (video stream) should give you Frame Rate Encoded: xx.x fps.

E.g., if RealPlayer says the source file is 24 fps, then make sure that value is used in ffmpegX, and not "23.00" or "1000", or some other value that doesn't belong. Just match the value.